Shopping cart of the future could warn you about the junk food you’re buying

A new study looks at the possibilities for high-tech hypermarkets, including …

The "shoppers of tomorrow" in the UK are a demanding group. A new survey by the Institute of Grocery Distribution (yes, I know) found that 13-19 year olds in the UK want self-scanning machines (66 percent), staff who will take their groceries out to cars (45 percent), and more staff who will go pick up forgotten items while shoppers wait in line (41 percent). But it's the prospect of high-tech shopping that has the report's authors all lathered up, even though only 16 percent of people call for tech toys like "satellite navigation on trolleys."

The reports that have emerged out of this research focus on the ways that technology can make an ordinary jaunt to the hypermarket a healthier, faster, and more ethical excursion. How about installing computers to create custom shopping lists based on past purchases? Good idea! (said 17 percent of people). Call buttons in the aisles? Genius! (said 48 percent). Bar code scanners and computer screens on trolleys? Yes, please! (30 percent).

Actually, it's the bar code idea that seems to capture the attention of the report's authors, as it was the most popular "technology" idea supported by customers (call buttons, it appears, are too low-tech to count). Note, however, that a full 70 percent of respondents did not think this a great idea.

One mum from London summed up the idea this way: "I'm having visions in my mind now, of some kind of interactive thing in the aisles; like a touch screen." The idea here is that a screen on the trolley or a scanner in the aisle would display information about any food with a bar code. The system would tell shoppers about nutritional information, where the product was grown or packaged, and whether it is Fairtrade-certified.

Sure, this information is generally on packages already, but EDS (which commissioned the study) wouldn't make any money if there was nothing to install. Besides, more technology is always better, a mantra that shoppers can repeat to themselves while staring at the BSOD on their cart's display.